Oleana celebrated 25 years of producing their awarding winning sweaters and knitwear in Bergen, Norway. I have been fortunate to work with Oleana for more then 20 of those years and I have the highest admiration for their quality and ethics.

The program was planned by Oleana founders, Kolbjorn Valestand and Signe Aarhus and was a reflection of their values and artistic interests. The show began with a J.S. Back Suite and dance. It was followed by a welcome from Kolbjorn. There were many highlights, but the comments I heard most were about the performance by Utla, a trio of percussion, Hardanger violin and an tenor sax.

The grand Finale was a performance by Fargespill, a group of 100 children from Bergen, wearing the folk costumes from the 35 countries they represent, including Norway. This truly brought the house down, with smiles and tears on everyone’s face. If you visit the Chalet, we will have the film of the event for you to watch.

The Norwegians in San Francisco are big fans of Oleana, so when Cecilie requested that we bring Oleana to a luncheon at the Norwegian Club in San Francisco, we readily agreed. Many of Oleana’s designs have roots in Norwegian design and history and the company is in Bergen, Norway. One of the primary reasons the company was founded was preserving the tradition of knitwear produced in Norway.

The Norwegian Club of San Francisco was founded 120 years ago and has maintained their original purpose of preserving Norwegian culture and interests. For example, they have held receptions for Roald Amundsen and his crew, Andrew Furuseth, the “Great Emancipator” and Thor Heyerdahl and his crew after the ‘Kon Tiki’ expedition.

We all had a wonderful day with a perfect menu created by Chef Pelle, cheerful bouquets and champagne!

We have had a lot of fun gathering all the pieces you will need to really “Hygge”. You will find cozy blankets, candles, Scandinavian cookbooks, chocolate and teas to make your home and life warm and inviting.